Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
ROMAYNE WILLIAMS,
one of the most prominent business men of Pasadena, was born in Greene County,
New York, November 25, 1847. He followed agricultural pursuits until seventeen
years of age; went to Coxsackie, that State, where he was engaged two years in
the employ of E. V. Beatty, dry-goods merchant; then, in 1867, to Troy, same
State, where he was employed two years in the large dry goods establishment of
Haverly & Frear; next, for four years, he was engaged in wholesale millinery for
C. H. Rising; then five years for G. V. S. Quackenbush & Co., dry-goods
merchants; and finally, in 1877, he emigrated to the Golden State, arriving in
Pasadena with but a few dollars in purse. Here his first task was to take charge
of the property of Hodgkins & Wood for a year, at $20 a month. During this time
he bought of A. M. Boughton five acres of land on Fair Oaks avenue, paying
therefor $200 down, and giving mortgage for the balance due. At the close of his
engagement with Hodgkins & Wood, he was enabled, with the assistance of his
wife, to pay the whole debt. Next, for a year, he was a salesman in the grocery
of Sherman Washburn, whom he then bought out, and continued the business under
the firm name of R. Williams & Co. This stand he sold out July 1, 1885, to W. O.
Swan, Jr. In the meantime he had erected a building on the northeast corner of
Fair Oaks avenue and Colorado street. Since that time he has speculated
considerably in real estate, and has by economical management amassed a fortune.
He built the first substantial business block in Pasadena, which no doubt
determined the present location of the business portion of the city. He has
worked hard for the interests of the place, and thinks it has a brilliant
future. He is a director in the San Gabriel Valley Bank; vice-president and
director of the Fair Oaks Street Railway; stockholder in the Pasadena
Manufacturing Company, one of the largest business firms in the city; was one of
the corporators of the Pasadena Gas and Electric Light Company, and is now its
treasurer; and was one of the promoters of the cable railroad to Wilson's Peak,
the objective point for the new observatory now in contemplation. In company
with C. S. Martin, he owns the site of Wilson's Peak, and they have tendered to
the University of Southern California a tract of land for the observatory, Mr.
Williams married Miss Ella Morrison, of Troy, New York. They have one son.
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California � Chicago, The Lewis
Publishing Company, 1889 Page 832
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler